Annual livestock auction attracts hundreds

Today, "Sponge Pig" is more than three times 11-year-old Joey's
weight. In fact, it was the heaviest pig in Monday's Junior
Livestock Auction.

"He keeps saying 300 pounds, but it was officially 298," said
his proud mother, Debbie Beath.

What does two pounds matter? For Joey, a San Marcos resident who
belongs to the Valley Center Homesteaders 4-H group, it was a
difference of $9. He collected $4.50 a pound at auction -- or a
whopping $1,341 -- for his pig.

But that wasn't the top moneymaker in the swine section of this
year's auction.

This year's Grand Champion pig, raised by Dalton Maxfeldt of
Valley Center Country 4-H, went for an astonishing $30 a pound,
said livestock auction secretary Geri Nelligan.

Last year's Grand Champion pig, raised by Valley Center resident
Kylie Last, went for $9 a pound. Two years ago, Encinitas resident
David Rodrigues collected $11 a pound for his Grand Champion prize
winner.

The per-pound prices reflect the fact that this is a special
auction with unusual buyers. Sometimes the buyers don't even want
the animals -- they buy them, then donate the animals to a
scholarship fund. What counts in this auction arena, organizers
say, is rewarding kids who've worked for months to raise pigs,
sheep, goats, cattle, or even turkeys and rabbits. Only kids who
have won prizes for their animals can sell them in the auction.

It isn't easy getting top honors, said 16-year-old Joseph Wier,
a Ramona 4-H club member. He should know -- he's been raising and
showing rabbits at the fair for 11 years. This year's Grand
Champion winner in the rabbit category, Wier started participating
in shows before he was in kindergarten, he said.

When exhibiting rabbits, Wier said it's important to have
perfectly matched animals. Exhibitors must enter three rabbits as a
single package, and each animal is supposed to weigh the same, be
the same gender and have fur that's in top-quality condition, among
other things. To achieve that, Wier said you need to raise more
than three rabbits.

"Approximately 30 rabbits for one show; that would give you a
good, decent amount (to select three from)," he said.

As he continued, his father laughed and warned him to stop
talking, saying, "You're giving away your trade secrets."

Joseph has plenty of those -- he's regularly won top prizes in
fairs for years. However, he likes his fancy show rabbits -- the
pets he keeps at home -- a lot better than the rabbits he exhibits
for fairs. The fair rabbits, which are raised for their meat value,
aren't particularly friendly, he said.

"These guys, they cut you," he said. "My sister has scars from
them."

Having a brother or sister who also exhibits at the fair isn't
uncommon. Future Farmers of America and the 4-H programs tend to
draw the whole family, program leaders say.

On Monday morning, parent Cindy Magill of Warner Springs was
directing pig traffic through the barn even though her daughter
raises sheep, not pigs.

She's been helping for 11 years, ever since her eldest child
became involved with the Future Farmers program, she said. Now, her
youngest, 16-year-old Summer Magill, is approaching the end of her
exhibition years.

"All my kids have been in FFA, and I'll tell you it has kept
them on the straight and narrow," she said.

For her and others at this year's fair, the biggest change was
the newly opened livestock barn -- a soaring structure that's been
highly praised for keeping animals and exhibitors cool.